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- Best Buddies Georgia Buddy Beat! - January 2024
Best Buddies Georgia Buddy Beat! - January 2024
Your one-stop shop for all things happening with Best Buddies in Georgia schools.
Doug Peters
January 05, 2024
Need the quick details? We have you covered! Here is a summary:
Georgia’s Leaders League has been RESCHEDULED from Wednesday, January 10th at 7:00 p.m. to Wednesday, January 17th at 7:00 p.m. Please register here!
We are excited to announce our Atlanta Friendship Walk date 🎉! We hope to see you, your friends, and your school community on Saturday, April 20th at Blackburn Park from 8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. for a celebration of friendship, music, FREE food, and fun! Please click HERE for more details.
We are also in the process of finding a location for our Macon and Savannah Friendship Walk, and would LOVE to hear from you if you want us to host the Friendship Walk at your school! Please email our State Director, Katie Stanton, at [email protected] and if you are interested.
Thank you for submitting your Chapter Check-In Forms last month! Who will be this month’s prize giveaway winner 👀? Stay tuned!
We hope that you join us for our in-person Back to Best Buddies training experiences in February! Please feel free to register for the event of your choice by clicking the links below:
Register HERE for Back to Best Buddies (Atlanta) on Saturday, February 3rd from 11am-2pm at Bowlero Marietta in Marietta, GA.
Register HERE for Back to Best Buddies (Middle Georgia) on Saturday, February 17th at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, GA (Room Location TBA)
Register HERE for Back to Best Buddies (Coastal Georgia) on Saturday, February 24th at the First District RESA Office in Metter, GA.
Consider hosting a Back to Best Buddies gathering or meeting to celebrate the new year! Visit our community toolkit HERE for event ideas.
Meet our Buddy Spotlight, Gabriel Knipher, from Ebenezer Middle School!
Consider which leader from your chapter will attend the Best Buddies Leadership Conference next year from July 19-July 22, 2024 at Indiana University Bloomington.
Join our virtual community on Remind and GroupMe!
Brace yourself for a phenomenal 2024 and most importantly, have fun!
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Great People! 🎉
We hope your holiday season was filled with joy and relaxation with loved ones. As we dive into 2024, we are thrilled to have each one of you as part of our incredible community.
To our dedicated faculty advisors: Your passion and commitment are the heartbeat of what we do at Best Buddies in Georgia! Thank you for inspiring our students daily, enriching their leadership potential, keeping records up-to-date, and collaborating with your students to plan inclusive events. You are much appreciated!
To our stellar student leaders: Your curiosity, creativity, and heart for what you do make Best Buddies in Georgia a vibrant community of growth. We could not do this work without YOU! Thank you for leading fun events, engaging your peers, and making your school a welcoming place for your peers with disabilities. Buckle up for a year full of discovery, laughter, and new friendships!
I can’t wait to continue our work together in 2024 🥳! We have some fantastic things lined up for the year ahead – exciting events, celebrations, and opportunities for everyone to shine. Continue reading for announcements that will add a sprinkle of fun!
Let's make 2024 a year to remember, filled with shared successes and memorable moments. Together, we'll continue the amazing work that we do to advocate for our exceptional student communities.
Here's to a New Year of excitement, learning, and endless possibilities!
Chapter Check-In Forms - Winner Selected!
We are thrilled to have over 40 elementary, middle, high school, and collegiate Best Buddies school chapters in Georgia! We are so glad to have you a part of our community and look forward to doing amazing work together.
With so many schools and one Program Manager, this form was created to ensure you get the individualized support you need to be successful. This form should be completed once a month per school and should take at most 7 minutes to complete. Only one form is needed per school chapter!
In the spirit of fun and friendship, we are doing a monthly random prize drawing for chapters that complete the Chapter Check-In Form on time for the rest of the school year! The winner for December is….*cues virtual drumroll*
🥁🥁🥁…….
Rose Jones from King Middle School 📢! I will reach out to you individually with the next steps!
Who will be our next winner? We will keep you posted RIGHT HERE in the next Georgia Buddy Beat! Thank you again for completing the check-in forms. It is a HUGE HELP in providing support and helping your chapter continue to be amazing. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need any assistance!
Join us for our Friendship Walks this year!
We are thrilled to bring our Friendship Walks to THREE different locations this year (Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah), and we need your help!
Best Buddies Friendship Walk stands out as a premier nationwide event dedicated to promoting inclusion for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). With approximately 45,000 participants joining Friendship Walks globally, this event promises a lively and family-friendly celebration featuring FREE food, music, dancing, photo opportunities, and engaging activities. Your involvement will undoubtedly contribute to the vibrancy and success of these events.
Our Atlanta Friendship Walk is taking place on Saturday, April 20th at Blackburn Park from 8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. We will keep you posted on the Macon and Savannah Friendship Walk dates, but we would love to hear from you if you would like to help host at your school. Please email Katie Stanton, State Director, at [email protected].
Join in on the fun by registering your chapter TODAY! Also, I heard that we have TWO pizza 🍕 parties left for chapters who complete registrations…but you didn’t hear that from me 😄.
Get your chapter pumped for the new year by hosting an event in January!
As you recruit new members to your Best Buddies chapter and plan inclusive events, don’t forget to make Best Buddies fun!
We have many resources on Best Buddies University and our Best Buddies in Georgia Chapter Toolkit, including match party ideas, recruitment items, training materials from LTD, and other helpful documents. For more questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]. Thank you!
Upcoming Events
What in the World is Leaders League??
Leader’s League is a chance to connect with other Best Buddies leaders nationwide (Expansion) and in Georgia (Georgia).
If you can’t make a monthly call, please feel free to pass along the Zoom info to your Vice President or another officer!
As always, if you need anything outside of these monthly calls, you can always shoot your PM, Doug, an e-mail to set up a time to chat one-on-one. We also do a raffle giveaway at the end, so please try to jump on with us!
Back to Best Buddies 2024: Dates Announced
We look forward to seeing you at Back to Best Buddies! Back to Best Buddies is our mandatory spring training experience to jumpstart the Spring 2024 semester. There will be FREE food, fun giveaways, and tons of information! Each chapter is only required to attend one session. Please register using the links below; we look forward to seeing you there!
Remind and GroupMe
We are increasing our chapter support by using Remind to send updates and GroupMe to facilitate the exchange of ideas for a successful year. We hope you join our community!
In the spirit of collaboration, you can use these spaces (including BB360’s Chatter feature) to speak with other chapter leaders to exchange event ideas, fundraiser concepts, BB360 troubleshooting, share event photos, great news, helpful tips, etc.
Remind
GroupMe
Buddy Spotlight - Meet Gabriel Knipher from Ebenezer Middle School!
We are thrilled to showcase this month’s Buddy Spotlight, Gabriel Knipher from Ebenezer Middle School! Gabriel was submitted by his faculty advisor, Ivory Brown. Please see the quote below to learn more about Gabriel!
“I would like to highlight Gabriel Knipher this month. He has gained sooo much confidence through participation in Best Buddies. He loves that his Peer Buddy cheers him on frequently and comes by to visit during homeroom. He even joined our team and helped win the War Ball Championship. Afterwards (with tears in his eyes) he said, "I will remember this forever!"
-Ivory Brown, Faculty Advisor, Ebenezer Middle School
We are so happy to have Gabriel, Ivory, and our Ebenezer Middle School community with us at Best Buddies in Georgia! Thank you for sharing this spotlight and we appreciate all your hard work in creating an inclusive environment for your school community. To submit a Buddy Spotlight for a member in your chapter, please send a message to Doug Peters at [email protected]!